Come what may
by Talamut
Summary: Oneshot [holic crossover] It is on the outskirts of the village, nestled in a lot the he has never seen before, and it seems almost impossible when he knows every nook and cranny of this village.


This is a crossover with Clamps series xXxHolic, which is absolutely wonderful. You don't have to read the series to get the story, but it would help to get some of the things written in it.

I never thought I focus on this character… but it was still enjoyable.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or xXxHolic

* * *

It is on the outskirts of the village, nestled in a lot the he has never seen before, and it seems almost impossible when he knows every nook and cranny of this village. The people around him walk past it and go on their way as though nothing is there, and continue on with their day. The feeling that he gets from the small house with old sliding doors is a weird one, and he doesn't want to get any closer to it. He slips away back into the crowd.

It isn't until a few months later that he ventures near to the odd shop again, but this time all he finds is a vacant lot with some bottles of sake littered around it. He counts it as a figment of his imagination and turns around and heads back toward his house.

His wife is waiting for him after all, and it wouldn't do to make his new bride wait to long. But Arashi can't help but feel that same feeling as he had all that time ago. Maybe it was because of the odd smell of opium smoke in the air.

* * *

After that, years passed by without so much as a thought of the little shop. The man became a jounin and eventually became a legend himself. Sometimes he would find himself coming back to that same spot, expecting to see that little shop in that space but it was still empty. His new students would sometimes come with him, wondering why he would stare at the lot for so long. 

Obito would get bored pretty easily and wander away, sniffing out an Oden Stand a block down, and Kakashi would follow him, saying that, "the idiot will just get into more trouble then he's worth." Rin would hesitate, looking back to him before following as well.

He will follow shortly, but not before watching a butterfly land upon the stone gate and hears a wispy laugh. He plays the second off as a figment of his imagination as well, and he turns to follow his students.

When he finds them, Obito has lined up a ton of bowls and Kakashi is looking like he would rather be anywhere else but with his teammates (but that isn't true, no matter what he says). Rin is laughing at both of them, and makes room for her teacher as he reaches them.

* * *

Obito is gone and it leaves a hollow void in his body. He failed his precious student but he is better for it. He won't let the others down, he thinks. 

He takes his two remaining students to the same Oden Stand that they went to before, to honor Obito's memory. Obito died so they would live, and it would be insulting for them to mourn him. They eat in silence.

When they are done, they walk down the same street and this time it is Rin who pauses at the vacant lot. She stares straight into it as though it held the secret to eternal life. She then turns to them, smiles and says, "I'll catch up later".

Both are hesitant to go without her, but the look she gives them leaves no room for argument. Her face is peaceful as though all her answers were just solved. Part of him is jealous because he wants to feel the same way. So they turn away and continue down their chosen path. As Arashi turns the corner, he looks back to see Rin walking past the gates of the lot. And again he gets that feeling, except this time it holds a hint of sadness and, perhaps, sympathy.

After that day, Rin did not show up for practice and part of him knows why. He just hopes that she is happy. Kakashi's face is hidden by his mask, but, in his own way, he knows as well.

* * *

He may be the leader of his village, but he is in no way ready for what was happening. He finds it ironic, and thinks to himself that there is no way that his luck is this bad. The demon only comes at night, but it leaves a wake of destruction in its path. His ninja's do their best to stop it, but it is a demon in every sense of the word. 

As he reads the reports from the jounins, the amount of deaths sadden him, even though they really shouldn't. When he can't take any more, he puts down the reports and heads to bed. He is alone now because his wife is gone. She has passed away in childbirth, and his son is still in the hospital.

That night he dreams of fire, but also of a beautiful kimono covered in pale butterflies, covering equally pale skin. He hears the same laugh and can almost smell the scent of opium smoke. He wakes up shivering and refuses to fall back asleep.

The next day, he goes to the same street. He watches the repairs being made to the houses and shops from the demons rampage. Being on the outskirts leaves these people in the most danger, but most of them refuse to leave this place. He doesn't know whether to respect these people for their bravery or condemn them for their idiocy.

He continues walking and comes across that lot, but this time, it is not empty. The smell of smoke is stronger this time. He walks down the path towards the sliding door and makes to knock. But before he can, the door slides open. Two young girls (but are they really? he thinks) step aside to let him through.

They slip their hands together and look up at him, smiling with half lidded eyes. He's known many people with weird hair color and clothing, but these two girls have to be the oddest. One with pink hair and the other with blue. Almost immediately he can see they are opposites, but at the same time in perfect harmony.

He tries to think just how he know this, but they stop him.

"Welcome-" says the pink one.

"-honored guest." finishes the blue one.

They separate hands again, this time grabbing him. They pull him though another set of doors into a spacious living room. The room seems to be bigger than the shop shows from the outside. But that is not what catches his attention.

In the middle of the room, she is lying on a couch across her stomach. The kimono she wears is exactly like the one from his dreams. If he stared long enough, he could swear that the butterflies sewed into the fabric were flapping their wings.

"You," she said, looking intently at him, "have a wish."

He felt almost mad at her. This woman looks as though she doesn't have a care in the world, even though their village is being destroyed by a demon that can not be defeated no matter what they try. Of course he has a wish. He wants it gone. He wants it to never come back. He wished that it never came. He has many wishes, but not all of them have to do with the demon the plagues his thoughts.

Instead of saying these things, he asks, "Who are you? I think I would have seen you in the village."

And this is true because he is the leader –the Hokage- and he knows everyone. He knows almost everyone's name, or has at least seen their face, but he can place no name to this woman. She smirks at him as she shifts upright. Her kimono is extremely low-cut, showing off her considerable cleavage, but his eyes remains on her face.

"You may call me Yuuko" she says, and her words drift through the air and fill it. He calms down and realizes he hadn't even known he was tense. "For you to see this shop, you must have a very strong desire. Those who don't, can't see this shop."

He is beginning to think this whole affair is stupid. Wishes such as his can not be granted. This woman –Yuuko- is looking at him in interest, and it is almost as if she can read his thoughts, because she shifts again, this time turning her head towards the two girls that he forgot were there.

"Moro, Maru, go into the storeroom and bring back the large scroll to the left of the mirror that doesn't reflect." stopping to think again, she adds, "It is across from the suits of armor." The two go skipping out of the room, chanting what their mistress had said. He is vaguely reminded of parrots repeating sentances.

The sit in a comfortable silence, until he asks another question that has been on his mind for a while.

"A girl- a few years younger than me….I think she came her a while ago." He leaves the question open, but he knows that she knows exactly what he is asking.

"I remember her." she says, "a very sweet child. But I can not tell you what she was here for." Arashi can see in her eyes that she is sympathetic with him, but not enough to tell him anything else.

It was then that the two girls came back with a large scroll carried between them and placed it down at Yuuko's side. Laying her elbow across the top, she meets his eyes once more, and all vestiges of familiarity are gone, to be replaced with that of a businesswoman.

"I will grant your wish." she said, "This scroll here is an old method for sealing. It is powerful enough that it will lock away the demon for eternity."

The look in her eyes as she stared into his was of utmost seriousness. And he knew that she was not lying.

"How much? How much money for that scroll?" His voice sounded weak to him, and he began to hate himself for it. "Price is no matter. I can give you any amount."

"I don't want money. I want something of equal value.… Give me your wedding ring." She says holding out her hand.

He stares at her, looking for some semblance of a joke, but he sees none. He slowly removes the ring from his finger, and holds it out to her. She takes the ring and runs her fingers over the warm metal and in a puff of wispy smoke, it vanishes from both their sight.

He takes the scroll from the two girls (_dolls_-he thinks as he looks into their faces) and gets up to leave. However, the woman's voice stops him.

"The price that you paid is only for the scroll itself. If you use it, there will be an entirely different, _heavier _price to pay. In that case, you might not be the only one paying. Make sure that you are prepared to pay it before you use it", she says before she lies back down onto her stomach and opens a bottle of alcohol.

He pauses again, and looks back at her. There is one more question that he wants answered.

"My wife….how much would it-" he begins but she cuts him off before he can finish.

"There is no price that you could possibly pay in order for me to grant that wish." and her words are final.

Part of him knows this, so he doesn't press the answer. He doesn't say goodbye to her, and she doesn't offer a goodbye to him either. Their business together is done. The two girls open the door and he walks out from the shop and back onto the street with the scroll in his hands.

This time there is no pull on him to head back to the shp and no smell of opium smoke. He doesn't even turn his head to look back at the shop as he starts walking back towards the Hokage Tower. It wouldn't have mattered anyways, because he wouldn't have been able seen anything in that vacant lot.

-End-


End file.
